Stubbornness and Pride
by goldfish400
Summary: Moana and Maui talk things out on the shore of Te Fiti. Alternatively, an AU where Maui agrees to reason things out with Moana rather than taking off into the dead of night.


If Maui hadn't turned his head when he did, Moana's not sure she would've noticed it. One moment, she's sailing towards the barrier islands, out of Te Ka's view. Maui was knocked from the sky, sure, but a quick look over and he seemed fine to her. There was a gap in between the barrier islands that, if she were to squeeze through, she and Maui would be able to get through to Te Fiti without Te Kā noticing. Nothing could go wrong. If she just waited until the perfect moment, just until Te Kā swung too hard and slipped into the water again, it would buy her and Maui just enough time to sneak past her without getting hurt.

Well, that's how it was supposed to go. But when Maui found the energy to look up, and saw her heading _where they were supposed to be going,_ he jumped to his feet and called her idea crazy. There's no way it'll work, he'd said, and Moana was too focused on trying to make it to the other side to notice what was going on. So she'd just brushed off his comments and kept going anyway, because what's the point of sailing all the way to Te Fiti just to turn around at the last minute?

But then he jumped up and tried to take her oar from her, and at _that_ point she'd only kept pushing as hard as she was to get him to let it go.

Just as she's about to rip it from his hands and keep going anyway, there's a loud screech, and Maui turns around about two seconds before she does. And when she does, Moana sees that Te Ka's actually a lot closer to her canoe than she thought she was. Te Kā, in fact, is now leaning against that same gap Moana was planning to squeeze her canoe through as she swings her arm up to bring it down onto her canoe. Maui seems to notice this at the same time she does, and abandons the oar for his hook. But before Moana can dig her oar into the water to turn them around, Maui steps forward and slams his hook up towards Te Ka's lowering fist.

There's a blinding white light, a _clang_ loud enough to leave a high pitched ringing in her ears, and then, nothing.

When Moana comes to, she can't see five feet in front of her face. She frowns, pushes herself upwards, and takes a look at her surroundings.

And realizes abruptly that she has no clue where they are. No longer is there a heavy smoke filling the air, no island on the horizon, and no angry lava demon protecting it. When she turns to look at the sail, it's torn clean in half, the mast itself smelling suspiciously like charred wood. A soft banging from the storage compartment below her pulls her from her thoughts, and when she opens it all of her baskets of food are spilled over on themselves. HeiHei pops his head out of one of the baskets, decides that's too much movement, and passes out into one of the baskets.

What happened?

Moana closes the storage compartment, and starts at the sound of a crackle of lightning despite there being no storm clouds in the sky. She turns, and Maui's sitting at the hull of the boat, back turned to her, and everything about his posture is screaming defeat. Moana goes to ask what happened, but then everything comes rushing back to her when his hook crackles quietly and she realizes just how bad of an idea asking that would be.

"Are you okay?" she asks instead, because the way his shoulders are slumped over Moana would think something heavy was pushing down on them.

Maui doesn't show any sign that he'd heard a word she said.

"Maui?" She asks, and crawls a little bit closer to him. "Maui, are you okay?" she asks, and reaches out to touch his shoulder.

But as soon as her words seem to process, he sighs like he's frustrated, and Moana's hand freezes. Slowly, Maui hefts himself to his feet, and Moana copies the motion. But before she can ask again, Maui turns to face her, and the words get caught in her throat.

A good portion of Maui's hook looks like it was chipped off, and a deep, ugly crack is running through the rest of it. It crackles a sickly dark purple, and Moana winces at the sight.

"I told you to turn back" he mutters, not meeting her eyes, gaze locked onto his broken hook.

Moana frowns, struggling for words at sudden bitterness in his tone. She settles with "I thought we could make it", because it's true.

Maui scoffs, turns his piercing gaze away from his hook and towards her so sharply she nearly winces backwards. " _We?"_

Moana blinks, and turns her gaze down towards the oar beside her in the water. "I thought...I could make it" she corrects herself, but her new answer doesn't help to lift that bitter expression off of his face at all. If anything, it seems to harden it on even further. He turns his gaze away from her again, and when she follows it he's back to looking at the crack in his hook. She frowns, goes to say something, but then pauses as a thought comes to her.

After Lalotai, all his hook needed was a little bit of encouragement to get working again. A thousand years he'd gone without using his hook, and all it took was a few words of encouragement and a few days of practice to get it working good as new again.

Surely a setback like this works the same way? She's got more than enough repair kits in the storage compartment, and who's it going to hurt to spare a few extra parts to fix it?

"We can fix it" she says, and takes a step towards the storage compartment to pull some supplies out. But Maui mistakes her step towards the supply as a step towards him, and he takes a half-step backwards and turns his gaze back towards his hook.

"It was made by the _gods"_ he emphasizes, and wiggles it towards her like a reminder. "You can't _fix_ it" he spits, and Moana takes a step backwards. She shakes her head.

"Next time we'll be more careful" she insists, and gives up on trying to tend after the hook for her canoe. "Te Kā was stuck on the barrier islands" she explains, and ties some of the loose knots back together as she shoots a small smile up in his direction. "It's lava. It can't go in the water. We can find a way around"

But instead of returning her smile, Maui just darts his gaze back to his hook, and Moana's smile fades from her face.

"I'm not going back"

...What.

"We still have to restore the heart" Moana emphasizes, not at all following where he's going with this.

"My hook is cracked" he states, and holds it out in front of her like she hasn't caught herself staring at it for the past two minutes. "One more hit and it's over"

" _Maui,_ you still have to restore the heart"

For some reason the lack of the word _we_ in her sentence feels sick and wrong, but if it's the only way to get him to listen, then so be it.

…It turns out using _you_ isn't any better than saying _we,_ because something in Maui's eyes darken at her words. He closes his eyes, and inhales sharply through his nose.

"Without my hook, I am nothing" he mutters, and Moana physically _recoils_ at the words.

"Maui, that's not…" she starts, frowning. "That's not true"

She can physically see something in Maui snap at her words, like he's mistaking her honesty for _pity._ He repeats the words, louder this time, and Moana physically stumbles backwards. She stumbles around for words, because it's _not_ true, he's so much more than his hook, he's so much _greater_ than his hook, but in the time she needs them the most her words are failing her.

Maui drops the heart to the deck in front of her, and stands to step at the stern of the canoe, and Moana reaches down to pick up the heart without looking back towards him. Fine. If he will not listen to reasoning, if he will not take to kindness, then Moana has no choice but to settle for brutal honesty.

It's his fault they're here in the first place, isn't it? How could any of this be her fault if he's the reason they're at Te Fiti at all?

But as soon as Moana picks the heart up, it pulses warmly in her hand, and it fills her insides with a sense of solace she can't put words to. She closes her hand around it, and turns around to look at Maui. He's still got his back turned to her, and he's still clenching his hook tightly in his hand. A weak breeze goes by, but it's strong enough to push all of his hair to one side of his back. For the briefest, _briefest_ of seconds, his mother exposes herself on his back, and all of the tension rushes out of Moana in one heavy sigh.

She'd said it herself earlier. The only reason he stole the heart in the first place was to earn love, and all pointing out that it didn't work would do is hurt him. Gods, the last thing she'd ever want to do is hurt him.

So she slowly reaches to place the heart back into her locket, turns toward him, and says "I'm sorry".

Maui freezes, every muscle in his body visibly tensing up, like that was the last thing he was ever expecting her to say.

" _What?"_ he asks, and even though there's definitely still anger in his tone it's almost drowned out by the _shock_ in his tone.

Moana frowns. "I'm sorry. I should've listened." she shakes her head. "And I get why you're mad, really, I do, but…" she trails off, and takes a tentative step closer to him. "Please don't go" she mutters, and although he regards her for a long moment like he's rummaging around for words nothing ever comes out of his mouth.

But then he looks to his hook, and then to the sea around them, and although it's slow Moana recognizes horror dawning on his face when she sees it. His hook drops to the deck, and he takes a cautious step towards her.

"Gods, Moana, I…" his arms fidget at his side, like he wants to reach out and touch her shoulder but isn't sure if he should. "I didn't...I wasn't-" he shakes his head at himself, angrily, and the entire boat rocks violently when Maui suddenly drops to the deck in a sitting position. "My hook-" he starts, and looks up at her. "It's all that I am, Moana, I can't…" he trails off, again, and sighs. "I'm nothing without it. No magic hook," he waves a hand in the air, "no magic powers" he says, and drops his arm to his side.

Moana shakes her head, and slowly, cautiously, she lowers herself until she's sitting beside him. She reaches out to touch his shoulder reassuringly, stops to wonder if it's a good idea, and remembers what almost happened the last time she tried to act without thinking and places a gentle hand on his shoulder anyway. Maui flinches at the gesture, and Moana frowns.

"That's _not_ true" she repeats, and shakes her head. "You don't need your hook to be who you truly are. Because you're greater than that, Maui" she says, and squeezes his arm gently. " _So_ much greater."

Maui frowns like he doesn't believe her and turns his gaze away from her and back out towards the water. Moana sighs and scooches just a bit closer to him to pull his attention back on her. "I'm sorry." she repeats, dropping her hand to her lap. "I know how much it means to you and I made you sacrifice it anyway" she murmurs, and Maui sighs heavily.

"It's just…" he trails off, and turns back to look at it. "I've done everything with it. I've pulled up islands with it, I've lassoed the sun, I've battled monsters twice Te Ka's size before" he smiles as he lists off each feat he's accomplished with his hook, but when he gets to the end of the list his smile drops off of his face. "But now that it's broken, or if we go back and I lose it, I'll just be...Maui." he says, and shakes his head. "That's it. No special feats, no magic powers, no more helping you guys out when you need me, nothing" his lips twist self-deprecatingly. "I'll just be Maui, and nothing else"

Moana frowns, because if the past few weeks she's spent with him are anything to go by than that's not a problem at all. Hook or no hook, that doesn't change the fact that he's a really good person, that all he's done he's done for somebody else, and it certainly doesn't change the fact that behind that inflated ego and stoic outside he's a really good and reliable friend on the inside.

But…Moana? Not so much. Maui- he trusted her with everything. He let her in on his most vulnerable story, and though it took a lot of asking he eventually agreed to teach her to wayfind. But the only reason he told her about his mother in the first place is because she kept poking, and poking, no matter how many times he told her to back off, and the only reason she knows how to wayfind is for the same exact reason. She kept asking, and asking, and asking until he finally gave in and agreed.

Gods, and don't even get her started on Te Kā. He'd been telling her for weeks upon weeks that he wasn't ready, and even when they were face to face with Te Kā herself Moana did not believe him. She pushed him to stand up and fight anyway, and all that got him was a broken hook and a number of injuries that she knows won't go away as quickly as he claims they will.

She is not a good friend. Moana shakes her head at herself. She never has been. But Maui is a good friend, he's always been a good friend, and for now she supposes he'll just have to settle with her until he finds someone better.

"But being _just_ Maui isn't a bad thing" she shakes her head. "It's a good thing. It's _great,_ even" she says, and smiles for him when he turns his gaze back to meet hers. "Your hook doesn't define who you are, Maui. You do. You're a good person with or without your hook, and you're an even better friend" she shakes her head. "I couldn't ask for a better friend if I tried. You've changed me so much, Maui" she says. "I'm better than who I was because of you, and I never got to properly thank you for that. But…" she trails off, and frowns.

"When you needed me, when you _really_ needed me, I didn't listen" Moana shakes her head, and frowns. "Stubbornness and pride. That's what they always said about me" Moana says, and frowns. "You weren't ready to face Te Kā, not really, and I made you face her anyways, because I was too _prideful_ and too _stubborn_ to listen to you. You're my best friend, but…" she trails off. "What kind of friend does that make me? The kind that doesn't listen?"

Beside her, Maui blinks, like those are the last words he'd ever want to hear out of her, but then he seems to catch himself and settles for an amused snort.

"Kid, do you really think I think of you as someone who never listens?" he asks, and shakes his head before she can even respond. "Because sure, I would've liked if you'd listened and turned around the first time, but do you really think I'd let one falling out let me forget what you've already done for me?"

Moana blinks. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, all you've done is listen, Curly. You-you're the first person I've trusted enough to tell you about my mother in millennia. Not everyone in the past took kindly to finding out about her. But _you?"_ he asks, and jabs her lightly in the arm. "You listened. You sat right beside me and you told me things nobody's ever said to me before." he shakes his head. "Most people don't even sit through the whole story. But you listened, and you chose to stick around and comfort me. I've been waiting thousands of years for someone like that to come around, Moana. Someone like _you"._ He shakes his head. "Of _course_ you listen, Moana, don't let anything make you think I don't know that."

He smiles at her. "As for the stubbornness and pride? Everyone's got a bit of both in them, Curly, even me" he shakes his head. "But the difference between you and them, or even you and me, is that you use these things for good. You're prideful because you love your people, Moana. You're proud of where you come from. And all that stubbornness is just your determination to save them. You're willing to do anything as long as it helps them. Fighting a giant coconut crab? Taking on a lava demon?" he shakes his head. "Nobody but you would be willing to go that far for their people, Moana, because there's nobody else out there like you."

As his words are settling, Moana realizes that...he's right. Yeah, he's _right._ Who else would board a fleet of murderous Kakamora to retrieve the heart of Te Fiti? What other mortal would dive without a second thought into Lalotai to help Maui retrieve his hook? Who else beside her would face Te Kā head on, without hesitation or any second thought about it? _Nobody,_ that's who. For she is Moana of Motunui, and aboard her boat she _will_ restore the heart of Te Fiti.

She didn't even realize that she'd jumped up to her feet, or that she'd said any of that out loud, but when she looks back to Maui he's smiling at her with all the pride he'd had when he turned to her and said _if I were the ocean_ and _more._

And Maui. How could she forget Maui? With Maui at her side, nothing can get in her way. With Maui at her side, she is _unstoppable_. Let what may come, for she knows the way.

With a huge grin spreading across her face, Moana hefts her oar and points it carvings-side up towards Maui. "You ready to get back in there and save the world?"

Maui easily matches her grin with one of his own, and raises his cracked hook towards her. She whacks at it once, and he dodges it with ease before countering with an attack on his own. When she tumbles out of the way of his attack and jumps back up to her feet, Maui grins and points his hook off towards where Te Fiti doubtless lies.

"Lead the way, Chosen One".


End file.
